Dentures have been on the market since the 1930's, using pretty much the same basic materials. While various attempts have been made to improve the process and provide for a better end result, until now no one has come close to achieving what we have accomplished using our method of manufacturing. The standard acrylic material used to simulate a patient's gum and hold in position artificial teeth embedded in the material is poly methyl methacrylate (PMMA). This acrylic material has two major inherent shortcomings associated with the current processing and polymerization of the material.
The primary issue is shrinking of material during the curing process. This results in less than a perfect adaptation and fit to a master model of the patient's internal mouth surfaces. Conventional processing systems used today require the acrylic material to polymerize under a static pressure in a two-part plaster mold having a cavity with dimensions corresponding to an exact fit for the patient. A polymerizable acrylic material is loaded into this cavity, and when the acrylic material begins to polymerize it shrinks into itself from all sides and in all dimensions. This distorts the finished denture, resulting in a denture that is smaller than the cavity that corresponds to the exact denture fit for the patient. Therefore conventional processes for manufacturing a denture do not result in the best denture fit possible.
The secondary issue is that all existing acrylic materials produce an end product that has varying degrees of micro-porosity, or air bubbles. Porosity allows for infiltration of oral fluids, leading to dis-colorization of the denture and bacterial growth that can result in hygiene and health issues. In addition, an increase in porosity directly decreases the strength and durability of the acrylic material and therefore the end denture product.
This background discussion is not intended to be an admission of prior art.